The field of the disclosure generally relates to techniques for enabling customers and other users to accurately identify items to be purchased at a retail facility, for example. One particular field of the invention relates to systems and methods for using visual appearance and weight information to augment universal product code (UPC) scans in order to insure that items are properly identified and accounted for at ring up.
In many traditional retail establishments, a cashier receives items to be purchased and scans them with a UPC scanner. The cashier insures that all the items are properly scanned before they are bagged. As some retail establishments incorporate customer self-checkout options, the customer assumes the responsibility of scanning and bagging items with little or no supervision by store personnel. A small percentage of customers have used this opportunity to defraud the store by bagging items without having scanned them or by swapping an item's UPC with the UPC of a lower priced item. Such activities cost retailers millions of dollars in lost income. There is therefore a need for safeguards to independently confirm that the checkout list is correct and discourage illegal activity while minimizing any inconvenience to the vast majority of honest and well-intentioned customers that properly scan their items.